Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-10-06

Mo y cc.a HAOui IOh1 Culil w OduAp
Robinson with military orders. just
half the ride has been completed.
Two hundred miles through bands
accursed with venomous serpents,
sneaking coyotes, savage wolves,
Indian devils-with memories of a
score of massacres with remem-
brances of tomahawk and scalping
knife, and exultant warriors. They
bade this man good-by as he rode from
the fort and they parted with him as
if he were going to his death. They
watched him as he rode away into the
gloom Of the evening, and when the
shadows had swallowed him up there
rose up in his place, seeming to be
painted across the sombre curtain of
night, the legend:
CHARLEY GRAY,
Gov'T SCOUT AND DISPATCH RIDER,
CAPTURED BY DEMONS SEPT. 16, 1868,
AND
TORTURED TO DEATH SAME DATE.
GENTLE, BRAVE, AND FEARLESS.
ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY BY LOVING
FRIENDS AND COMRADES.
Men read the legend and turned
away with a shiver. Two hundred
miles Of snake and wolf and demon! 1t
was taking terrible chances.
It had been rough ride, with scarce
ly an hours halt for rest, and the
mule drank as if long deprived of wa
ter. Little by little he raised his
head from the spring, and at last he
lifted his nose clear out of the water
with an ''o-o-o-ffi'' of satisfaction. The
mans tongue burned for water, but
he did not hurry his movements. He
began at the peak on his right and
carefully looked over the ground in
quarter-circle to the north. Then he
turned in his saddle and made the sur
Yey half-circle. Then he lifted himself
in the stirrups and surveyed the ground
to the left, to the right, in front, and
his circle was complete.
Itwas plain, sterile, parched, broken
and ridged--lands which produce only
for reptiles and wild beasts. A SER
pent lay basking in the sun few yards
distant. A gaunt, wild-eyed wolf
4 peered out from behind rock scarce
pistol shot away and gnashed his teeth
in Disappointment that it was not
other game The scout smiled with
satisfaction. He could detect nothing
Of the foe he most dreaded. He leaps
to the ground. strips off the saddle,
and while the mule picks at the sweet
grass around the spring the scout
breaks his fast from the bread and
meat in his haversack.
"Hi-ek! Hi-ek! Hi-ek"
1t is the call of a vulture, sailing in
circles over the spring. Did you ever
see vulture of the plainp A heavy
bodied bird of sombre color, with fierce
beak, and talons like the claws of
tiger. The living are nothing to him;
death is his feast.
''Hi-ek! Hi-ek! Hi-ekp
When You hear that cry look out.
Death is close ut hand.
AT the second call the mule raised
his head in a startled way and cast'a
swift glance on every side. The scout
was slower in his movements. He
looseucd hisreyolyer before he moved,
and aslhe rose up he had his rifle in
his hands.
'I1l-ck. IlI-ck! I1l-6ht
What isit The man turns slowly
on his heel to scan the country. and
brave and fearless rs he is his heart
increases its beats and his eyes betray
anxiety. Theyultureis is never mistaken,
The death-call is never uttered without
reason. There are three minutes of
such suspense as try mems nerves--of
such silence that the flap! flap! Of the
vultures great wings can be heard as
he sails his circle.
.Hi-ek! Hi IT.
All! A score Of savages suddenly APP
pear on the crest of the ridge half q
mile to the west, each one painted and
bedecked ~ each one mounted and
thirsting for blond. they have been
in ambush for hours, and now their
waiting has been rewarded. They
wheel to the right and the left until
they are In line. Not war whoop
has been uttered-not shout has
broken the silence. The scout faces
them. One-five-- ten fifteen twen-
ty-two!
An even hundred miles to Fort Sui
"! An even hundred miles to Camp
vRobinson! One to twenty-two!
'.Hi-ek! Hi-ek! Hi-ek!H screams the
buzzard in exultation.
The bronze which the summer sun Of
the West has burned upon the scouts
cheeks pales little as the line adj
yances to encircle him, and his fingers
tighten on his rife until the clutch
woHld make human flesh cry out in
agony, but there is never agquiyer Of
the lip never q tremble of tho limb.
Now the fightopens. There Is shout
and shot and swift circling. The
hoarse cries of the yulture mingle with
the fierce screams Of the warriors, and
echo back the defiant shouts Of the
scout. ,-g MIC
Now the circle contracts. Two war
( riors have been struck from their tly-
ing ponies and two ponies have been
hard hit They must close with him
OF numbers viii not count against his
steady eye and iron nerve.
W u
..TIi-ekl Hi4ekl Hi-ekr' i
The scout is down and the mule,
wounded to the death, N has broken
through the circlewith mad rush. 1t
were better IL the bullet which tore up
y the scalp and rendered tile brave man
unconscious for d period had pene-
& tented to the brain. When he opens
his eyes again he y disarned and Il